This punishment seem funny but was, in the aggregate, quite cruel?

Russian labor camps are very notorious.

But especially creepy are the stories about Sakhalin Island.

It is located between Japan and Russia and again and again in history it was fought over because different countries laid claim to it. Often it was the Russians and the Japanese, but also the Chinese were involved.

Strategically located, not too small islands often have such stories.

And Sakhalin was used by the Russians as a forced labor camp and re-education camp.

I don't know when this picture is from, but I estimate it to be from the turn of the century 18-1900, when the Russians were particularly active on the island.

This punishment looks really curious, but really funny it was not.

The prisoner who tried to escape for the second time got a special punishment.

And it prevented him from ever trying again in a simple way.

He was chained to a wheelbarrow, which was probably also his work tool. On the one hand, this was practical for working (little joke), but rather impractical for all other things in life, such as sleeping.

And this massive wooden wheelbarrow looks a lot heavier than our modern wheelbarrows.

I can also see chains on his legs, but where they go is not visible.

That must have been a humiliating and extremely debilitating punishment.